I can vaguely recall a time when the person who helped kids across the street was called a “crossing guard.” It seems like not to long ago, the person parked and watched cars was called a “parking attendant.” The people directing traffic at construction sites were just construction workers. The police were called the police.
Now, however, all these jobs seem to have been upgraded. They are variants of “security personnel.” And they all wear shirts with big letters: SECURITY.
Just this morning, headed out on errands, I managed to bump into fully three “security personnel” in the course of five minutes. What were they securing? Hard to say. It just seems to be the thing to be considered “security.”
We can speculate on the reasons. One is language fashion: words come and go. The creation of the Department of Homeland Security has caused the word security to rise and other terms to go.
But there’s also the general change that has occurred in public culture since 9-11. Institutions once saw the job of policing their premises as something that should be somewhat inconspicuous, and made friendly as possible. They were to be seen as helpers, not threats; as servants, not masters.
And it really does work. I can recall waving in a friendly way to the nice folks helping kids across the street. Now these same people have serious looks on their faces, and position themselves not as neighborhood servants but watchful and slightly mean. If you wave at them, they might think that something is amiss! And no doubt that they enjoy their new-found sense of power.
A cynic (present company included) might note that billions and billions of federal dollars are floating around and ready to land on all state and local governments that can justify that the money is landing on some security personnel. So of course jobs get redefined. If the federal government were given out hundreds of billions for dance troupes, we would see them popping up everywhere.
If we think of what the term literally means, it is all about protecting person and property. If you are prepared to fight back or run if attack, it might be said that you are exercising the role of security personnel. If you carry a gun or mace, certainly you qualify. In this case, maybe everyone should stock up.
